U.S. MIGHT ADMIT DETAINED CUBANS TO HELP CHILDREN

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE,

Published: November 15, 1994

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14—
Facing intense pressure from Cuban-American groups, the Clinton Administration is leaning toward granting entry to Cuban families being held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station on the ground that holding children there month after month is inhumane.

An Administration official said the decision would probably be announced over the next 10 days to reduce the chances of embarrassing demonstrations by Cuban-Americans when President Clinton meets with Latin American leaders in Miami in early December.

There are 2,700 to 3,000 Cuban children under the age of 17 at Guantanamo Bay, Administration officials estimated today, adding that together with their parents, they account for roughly one-third of the 23,390 Cubans being detained there.

Permitting them to come to the United States would be a policy reversal for the Administration, which asserted repeatedly that the thousands of Cuban boat people transferred to Guantanamo Bay in August would be held there indefinitely and would never be allowed direct entry into the United States.

Explaining the decision, an Administration official said: "There are definite humanitarian concerns here. There are questions of schooling and health for these children. The camps are rudimentary, and life is pretty rough."

At the same time, according to one official, the Administration fears that allowing in families could draw Cubans to American shores, encouraging them to think that the door is again open for them to flee by boat.

Another concern, however, is that the Cuban Government might be angered by such a decision because the Administration stated in an agreement signed on Sept. 9 that "migrants arrested at sea attempting to enter the United States will not be permitted to enter the United States."

Several officials said they doubted that President Fidel Castro would grow so upset by the admission of the families that he would encourage a new flow of refugees, a move that would vex the United States at a time when Mr. Castro is eager for Washington to end the three-decade-old trade embargo.

Leaders of Cuban-American groups said in interviews today that the Administration recognized that if it does not admit a large number of the Guantanamo detainees soon, Cuban-Americans could stage demonstrations when the leaders of all the countries in the hemisphere except Cuba meet in Miami from Dec. 9 through 11.

Administration officials acknowledge that if the President is going to have any chance of winning Florida in the 1996 Presidential elections, he will need strong backing from Cuban-Americans.

"Thousands of Cuban-Americans in Miami are growing very anxious about the status of the people at Guantanamo," said Jose Cardenas, Washington representative of the Cuban-American National Foundation. "The Administration knows that very clearly."

Mr. Cardenas, whose powerful group has heavily influenced Mr. Clinton's policies on Cuba, said he was confident that the Administration would soon announce plans to grant entry to the children at Guantanamo as well as their parents.

"That would go a very long way toward placating the Cuban-American community," he said. "What we want to establish for the people in Guantanamo is that there is hope for them."

Among the factors the Administration is weighing is whether the Cuban children can be properly educated and cared for at the detention camp in Guantanamo.

Responding to Cuban-American pressures that it was ignoring the plight of the most vulnerable detainees, the Administration announced on Oct. 14 that it would grant entry to close to 300 Cubans from three groups: the sick, people over age 70 and children not accompanied by adults.

"It's true that the President said that no one picked up at sea and taken to Guantanamo would be processed for entry into the U.S.," a State Department official said. "We have made humanitarian exceptions to that statement."

As part of its announcement on Oct. 14, the Administration said it would review the status of all children at Guantanamo Bay to determine who their parents and relatives are in the camp.

Seeking to discourage any new exodus of Cubans, several officials said that even if those families are granted entry on compassionate grounds, others at Guantanamo should not get their hopes up about being admitted.

Cuban-American groups, nevertheless, hold out such a hope. They want the Administration to allow in all Cubans in Guantanamo who have relatives in the United States.

If the families are granted entry, most are expected to gravitate toward Miami because they have relatives or links there. But American officials want to make sure that some of the families would be resettled in states other than Florida.

Some Administration officials fear that admitting these families will encourage Cubans who seek to flee by boat in the future to make sure that they have at least one of their children with them.